Skip to content

Carl Pope

Executive Director, The Sierra Club

Carl Pope is Executive Director of the Sierra Club. Since Pope’s appointment in 1992, Sierra Club has added 150,000 new members, bringing the total membership to 700,000. Pope has a distinguished record of environmental activism and leadership.

Prior to his work with the Sierra Club, Pope served on the Boards of the California League of Conservation Voters, Public Voice, National Clean Air Coalition, California Common Cause and Public Interest Economics, Inc. He is the co-author of Strategic Ignorance: Why the Bush Administration Is Recklessly Destroying a Century of Environmental Progress, and other books including Hazardous Waste in America and Sahib, an American Misadventure in India. Pope was educated at Harvard University and spent two years in the Peace Corps in India on graduation.

Why was the ’06 election the most successful in the movement's history?

Taking Congress back from people whose attitude was “the earth is on fire sale.”

▸

5 min

—

with

How do we live a greener life?

Tread a little bit more gently, Carl Pope advises.

▸

2 min

—

with

Climate Change: Are we at a tipping point?

We have to fix it really, really fast.

▸

3 min

—

with

Are development and environmentalism compatible?

Pope believes that the environment is essential to a country’s development.

▸

1 min

—

with

Is nuclear power a good alternative?

Nuclear power is a huge distraction, says Pope.

▸

2 min

—

with

Religion and the Environmental Movement

The environmental movement has made a big mistake severing its ties to religious organizations, Pope says.

▸

2 min

—

with

Nature and Spirituality

You would’t last long without nature, says Pope.

▸

3 min

—

with

What forces have shaped humanity most?

We should start acting like we live here, Pope says.

▸

2 min

—

with

Now that environmentalism is hip, who is and is not advancing the cause?

This is a period to watch closely, listen carefully, and learn very, very fast, says Pope.

▸

3 min

—

with

How is technology changing the environmental movement?

Increasing access to information is a significant new development.

▸

2 min

—

with

How do you contribute?

Pope says the Sierra Club has accomplished a lot, but has a long way to go.

▸

3 min

—

with

What is the biggest misconception about environmentalism?

A lot of Americans share the Sierra Club’s beliefs, but don’t like the Club very much, says Pope.

▸

2 min

—

with

Lobbying and the American Political System

“Lobbying,” says Pope, is a word that describes two very different phenomena.

▸

2 min

—

with

Is the environment a human rights issue?

Carl Pope sometimes has to remind people that, in the Old West, if you poisoned the well, you’d be strung up.

▸

2 min

—

with

Carl Pope never bought the McCarthy era civics lessons. Instead, he organized a hospital union in Arkansas.

▸

4 min

—

with

What do you do?

Directing the Sierra Club is a bit like driving an elephant, says Carl Pope.

▸

2 min

—

with

What is the Sierra Club?

The Sierra Club’s members share the core values of taking responsibility over the environment and making a difference.

▸

4 min

—

with